Economic Survival Team “Severely Disappointed” with Salazar Meeting

NEW ORLEANS, La. – This morning the Gulf Economic Survival Team and prominent Louisiana politicians met with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Michael Bromwich, chief regulator of offshore drilling, to overcome delays in permitting. However, the federal officials failed to win the hearts of the Louisiana attendees, and the “high expectations” of Lori Leblanc, GEST executive director, “were severely disappointed.”

Leblanc cites an absence of “definitive policy decisions” for her lack of confidence in a swift end to “drilling permitting bottlenecks.” She also disputes the agency’s claim that they are “proceeding with a sense of urgency. “This urgency has not been reflected in the agency’s actions,” she says.